Scottish Ale recipie, please review for me.

[Todd]

Ok, I found a scottish ale I think I'd like to try. The only thing is it is 7.5% abv and I'd like it to be a bit lower. It is labeled as 90 shilling. The reason I want to try this one compared to some others I have found is the variety of specialty grains used, the others are just two kinds of extract or 1 grain type. Anyway here is the recipie, I'm not sure the purpose of the cane sugar, I'm thinking I could skip this and it is just there to get the alcohol content higher.

12oz 55L british crystal malt
2oz toasted 2-row pale
2oz peat-smoked malt

6.6lb john bull light malt syrup
2.75lb M&F light DME
4oz black treacle
4oz cane sugar
2oz east kent goldings

Last 15 minutes
.5oz kent goldings
1tsp irish moss

Wyeast 1728 scottish ale yeast

Prime with 1 1/4 C extra light DME (Why this and not corn sugar?)

OG 1.075 FG 1.016

I also assume John Bull is a brand, will just light malt extract work? I'm not sure how well stocked LHBS is.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm going to get supplies on Saturday and hope to Brew on Sunday.

 

[Darth Konvel]

I'm pretty sure John Bull is just a brand of LME. You should be fine subbing out for any light extract you can find.

The cane sugar is most likely there to boost alcohol a little, but I wonder why even bother with just 4 oz. A little odd.

On using DME for priming, it's just a matter of preference. Some feel using DME instead of corn sugar gives better results, but I can't say so myself.

Just a quick note, it looks like that recipe is punched in for a 5 gallon batch. A 5.5 gallon batch looks like it will yield an OG of 1.068~1.069. What kind of volume are you looking for?

 

[Exo]

You could try 6# of Light LME and 3# of Amber LME. If you skip the table sugar your OG for 5gal should be around 1.068. Assuming you FG stays at 1.016, that will give you a ABV of 5.3 or so.

 

[Todd]

I'm pretty sure John Bull is just a brand of LME. You should be fine subbing out for any light extract you can find.

The cane sugar is most likely there to boost alcohol a little, but I wonder why even bother with just 4 oz. A little odd.

On using DME for priming, it's just a matter of preference. Some feel using DME instead of corn sugar gives better results, but I can't say so myself.

Just a quick note, it looks like that recipe is punched in for a 5 gallon batch. A 5.5 gallon batch looks like it will yield an OG of 1.068~1.069. What kind of volume are you looking for?

Thanks guys, I'm shooting for a 5 gallon batch. This is a recipie from Clone Brews so it is possible that the sugar is in the original beer and they are just copying that.

so by droping the extract a bit it should lower the OG without effecting taste too much?

 

[Exo]

What scottish ale is it a clone of?

 

[Todd]

What scottish ale is it a clone of?

Belhaven, dunbar Scottland.

 

[Darth Konvel]

What kind of % ABV are looking for then?

A quick tweak:
5 gal

6 lbs DME
4 oz Molasses

12 oz Crystal Malt
2 oz Roasted
2 oz Peated

1.5 oz KG @4.5AA ~ 60 min
0.5 oz KG @4.5AA ~ 15 min

36 IBU (assuming partial boil)

OG 1.058
FG 1.016
ABV 5.4% (72% Atten)

 

[Todd]

What kind of % ABV are looking for then?

A quick tweak:
5 gal

6 lbs DME
4 oz Molasses

12 oz Crystal Malt
2 oz Roasted
2 oz Peated

1.5 oz KG @4.5AA ~ 60 min
0.5 oz KG @4.5AA ~ 15 min

36 IBU (assuming partial boil)

OG 1.058
FG 1.016
ABV 5.4% (72% Atten)

This would be good. 7.5% just seems a bit high. I might just go ahead and follow the recipie and see how it turns out.

What got me looking at the scottish ale is Sam Adam's Scotch Ale which I love, it is only about 5%ABV. Thanks for looking at this and I'll let you know what I end up doing and how it goes.

Todd